News roundup: Romney to help with two books about 2012 race

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Romney to help with two books. Hatch to vote for immigration reform. Attorney claims AG threat.

Happy Tuesday. Largely silent since his 2012 election loss, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney will sit down with the authors of two forthcoming books about the race to tell his side of the story. Romney has agreed to chat with The Washington Post's Dan Balz as well as Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's for their tome "Double Down: Game Change 2012." The latter two's expose on the 2008 contest was later made into a movie. [Politico]

Topping the news: In a letter to The Salt Lake Tribune, Sen. Orrin Hatch says he will vote to support immigration reform even if he doesn't get everything he wants into the bill. [Trib] You can also read Hatch's letter here: [Trib].

-> Gov. Gary Herbert has announced his support of the EPA's new vehicle emissions standards, which he believes can make a real difference to the environmental concerns plaguing the state. [Trib] [Fox13]

-> An attorney for Marc Sessions Jenson, a businessman who has made accusations against AG John Swallow, alleges that a top official in the Utah AG's office threatened him over the weekend. Swallow's aide swiftly denied the threat. [Trib] [Fox13]

ARTICLE PHOTO GALLERY

-> State Sen. Stuart Reid says he may recuse himself if impeachment of Swallow hits the Senate because, Reid says, he may not be able to act impartiality after Swallow's latest comments. [UtahPolicy]

Tweet of the day: From @TweeshaJo: "In his latest act of greatness, Edward Snowden duped a bunch of gullible journalists into taking a 12-hour flight to Cuba. #Hilarious"

Happy birthday: To Mike Gehrke and USU's Ted Pease.

In other news: Even though the U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule on the Defense of Marriage Act this week, Utah is unlikely to lift its ban on gay marriage. [Trib]

-> Representatives from the American Association of University Women of Utah sat down with Rep. Jason Chaffetz to discuss the issue of equal pay for women. [Trib]

-> A new study shows that if Utah were to raise transportation taxes and invest the money in road and mass-transit projects, the investment would be returned many times over. [Trib] [DNews] [UtahPolicy]

-> More than 80 of the country's top political cartoonists will gather in Salt Lake City this weekend for the annual Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention. [Trib]

-> Pat Bagley's guest cartoonist Daryl Cagle gives his take on the effects of the immigration reform debate on the GOP. [Trib]

-> Palmer DePaulis, executive director of the Utah Department of Human Services, announced his retirement on Monday after 30 years as a Utah public servant. [Trib] [DNews]

-> A USU professor who wrote a book about the IRS says politicians have been in bed with the agency for a long time. [Trib]

-> Critics of the proposed route of the West Davis Freeway accuse Oakridge Country Club in Farmington of asking for special treatment because the club's management didn't want the new road to be built over part of one of the holes on its golf course. [Trib]

-> A federal judge refused to grant an injunction requested by the Ute Indian Tribe that would have blocked prosecutions of three tribal members charged in state court with offenses which may or may not have occurred on tribal lands. [Trib] [DNews]

Nationally: The Supreme Court ruled to send the affirmative action case involving the University of Texas back to a lower court for further review with instructions to closely scrutinize the justifications for such programs at higher education institutions. [NYTimes] [WaPost] [Politico]

-> New IRS chief Daniel Werfel announced Monday that all senior IRS officials involved in the unfair targeting of conservative organizations are no longer in their posts and that these groups would find it easier to qualify for tax-exempt statues. [WaPost]

-> Obama administration officials are getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of cooperation from both Russia and China as the search for NSA leaker Edward Snowden continues. [NYTimes]

-> Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has taken some heat for his apparently hands-off approach to extraditing Snowden. [WaPost]

-> On Monday 67 senators voted in favor of a "border-surge" amendment to the immigration reform bill, a move which some interpret as a sign that the immigration bill will clear the Senate this week. [Politico] [WaPost] [NYTimes]

Where are they?

Rep. Rob Bishop travels back to Washington to attend a Rules Committee hearing.

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